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CHAP. II.

SHALL now proceed to consider the Assemblies, judicial and deliberative, instituted by Solon '.

THE COURT OF AREOPAGUS.

This court, so deservedly famous in the history of the ancient world, was founded by Solon, according to the respectable testimony both of Cicero and Plutarch. Its members were commonly chosen from among the oldest and most respectable of the Senators of Athens; and the character of these venerable judges has been long and justly celebrated for a wise and impartial administration.

Ancient writers have informed us of many peculiarities, which were observed with ceremonious exactness, by this respectable assembly. We are told, that it

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sat only during the night'; that laughter in the court was considered as an unpar

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donable levity *; and that the pleader was not permitted to adorn his subject with the graces of eloquence, or the flowers of rhetoric'. The cautious and inflexible judges desired to avoid the possibility of partiality; and they forbade any elevation of voice, or vehemence of expression, which might convey even the appearance of an appeal to the passions".

The forms observed by the Areopagites were probably borrowed from foreign example; and the high court of Memphis appears to have served as the model of that of Athens. The Sicilian Diodorus, in speaking of the Egyptian senate, seems to have considered it as nothing inferior to the Athenian tribunal 3.

The Areopagites took cognizance of irregularity of manners, of idleness, and of debauchery, among the citizens of Athens', and religious disputes were generally referred to their decision ". It was before this

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court, according to some, that Socrates was tried for introducing new opinions"; and it reflects little honour on the wisdom of the Areopagites, that Plato dreaded their authority, while he taught his sublime doctrines in the groves of the Academy ".

Isocrates, however, has given us a splendid detail of the virtuous administration of the Areopagites. That pompous 13 rhetorician has celebrated the wisdom, the uprightness, and the integrity of the Athenian sages; and even Cicero re-echoes the praises so lavishly bestowed upon them by the Grecian orator.

The court of Areopagus was held in an ancient edifice, which was built upon a hill

opposite to the citadel 4. History does not inform us, why a rock consecrated to the god of war ", should have been chosen for the peaceful resort of magistrates and senators; and yet the word Areopagus seems to infer, that Mars presided in the place, where the Athenians had built a temple to Wisdom and Justice

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The structure of

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this building had originally been adorned with few and simple ornaments" but it was afterwards more splendidly embellished during the reign of Augustus Cæsar. A marble" altar was raised to the goddess of Wisdom in the middle of the hall; and two seats of solid silver " were placed opposite to the judges, where the accuser and the accused were confronted with each other 20. Near to the tribunal stood two urns, the

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one of wood, and the other of brass "; and

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into these urns the judges threw their ballots". The roof of the building was supported by pillars of the Ionic order "3. In the outer court was to be seen a celebrated barge*; and there also stood the tomb of Œdipus, from whose ashes sprung up such a crowd of fables. The remains of this once magnificent structure are still to be seen among the ruins of modern Athens 25.

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Of the rights and privileges of the College of Archons, I shall speak more at large, when I come to consider the internal balance of power in the Athenian government. These magistrates were nine in number. The three first, or senior Archons, were distinguished from the rest, by the offices they separately held. The first of the three represented in his person the majesty of the state; and was known by the simple, but honourable appellation of Archon. The second was invested with the sacred office of the priesthood, and was termed Basileus ", or king. The third was distinguished by the appellation of Polemarch, and to his care all military affairs were entrusted. The remaining six, who were termed Thesmothetæ, inspected the police-regulated the internal government of the city—and presided in several courts of justice. The whole nine formed the